Eight Tons Of Food Donated To Plainville Food Pantry

PLAINVILLE — Eight tons of donated food was unloaded Tuesday night at the Community Food Pantry, the stacked boxes proof of peoples' generosity to neighbors who might otherwise go hungry.

"Without the food drives, we'd not be able to meet the need," pantry executive director Susie Woerz said as Plainville volunteer firefighters were ending an hour's work unloading the 30-foot truck. "These donations fill 85 percent of what we give."

The truck was half full of non-perishable foods donated since Nov. 21 by the public.

The food was collected by members of the Plainville United Methodist Church, who cheered when the tally of this year's donations was read inside the pantry's South Canal Street headquarters.

Of the 16,181 pounds of donations, "That's a new record," church member Jeff Cedarfield said. "It blew away the record two years ago of 15,000 pounds."

The new record included 697 pounds of turkeys,51 in all, plus an estimated 1,391 pounds of food the pantry could buy with about $3,500 in donated gift cards and cash.

"We come here every year to unload the food," Plainville Chief Kevin Toner said as a dozen volunteer firefighters lugged boxes from truck to cars, weighing each before unloading the boxes and stacking them.

Woerz said that this year, about 160 households are seeking food assistance, up from about 140 last year. The pantry also provides warm clothing to residents in need, and Woerz said that it has no more boots left to give children, and that the supplies of pants and sweatshirts for men is running low.

Anyone who wishes to help the pantry can contact the non-profit group at 860-747-1919, visit its website for a list of needed items or support the various fundraisers the group has each year, Woerz said.